//------------------------------//
// Chapter 31 
// Story: The Adventures of Trixie if Her Father Was a Badass Alien 
// by totallynotabrony 
//------------------------------//

	“Thank you!  You’ve all been a wonderful audience!”  Trixie took a bow as the crowd applauded.  It was her last show aboard the steamer, and her performances had been a success each night.
With a nod to Fluttershy, the two of them left the stage.  Despite her timid attitude, the yellow pegasus had been a helpful assistant, and Trixie was sure to let Fluttershy know how much she appreciated it.
Putting on the magic shows had been enjoyable for Trixie.  It had been a while since she’d practiced her old staple, performance magic.  She still had the knack, and delighted the audiences.  Trixie was happy, both to see the same in the faces of the crowd, and also pleased to see that something about her old life was still constant – something from before her entire existence went off the rails.
As she and Fluttershy walked back to their shared cabin, Trixie thought about the vessel’s journey across the ocean.  While she would have liked to have spent more time in Scoltland, getting back sounded nice, too.  The only thing she had found on the other side of the sea was weirdos.
The steamer steamed on, towards the port of Neigh Orleans.  An announcement went through the ship that they would arrive soon.  It was nearing midnight, not at all their intended arrival time.  Trixie frowned, thinking again that their destination was unusual.  She and Fluttershy both agreed that they remembered booking tickets for elsewhere.  A few other passengers aboard had noticed the discrepancy, although some had Neigh Orleans as their actual intended destination.
While Trixie didn’t particularly mind seeing Neigh Orleans for the first time, she was far from relaxed.  Too many other things had gone wrong.  She was trying to see if this was yet another facet of Starburst’s plan to get to her, or that of any number of other ponies who she had encountered.
There was no way of predicting the future, however.  Trixie resolved to just take things as they came and be prepared.
When the ship pulled up to the dock, it was quite dark.  The passengers disembarked quietly, some muttering about the undesired destination.   Fluttershy stayed close to Trixie, casting worried glances around the dark docks.
“Where should we go?” Fluttershy asked.
Trixie shrugged.  “I’m sure we can figure it out.  We’ll have to hurry, though.  With all these passengers arriving with us, the nearest hotels will probably fill up fast.”
The two of them set off, Trixie on her skateboard and Fluttershy managing to keep up overhead.  At the end of the pier was a drab industrial complex and a group of darkened buildings.
“This doesn’t look like a passenger port,” Fluttershy pointed out.  “I’ve seen plenty of those while shoveling coal for ocean liners.”
This didn't look good.  Trixie moved a little slower, her senses sharpening.  The other passengers had caught up to them, and they too looked suspicious of their surroundings.  Good – that meant Trixie wasn’t being overly paranoid.
“Hey, what was that?” called somepony from the back of the crowd.
“Is someone there?” asked a mare near Trixie, staring into the darkness.
“I don’t like this,” muttered one stallion, speaking what was probably in the minds of most of the crowd.
Worrying reports kept coming in.  “I thought I saw something!”  “This feels wrong!”  “I think we’re surrounded!”
Trixie herself had caught glimpses of movement from the shadows as the group of passengers moved through the industrial complex.  Fluttershy tapped her on the shoulder.
“Can it wait?” Trixie asked.  “I’m trying to concentrate.”
“Are there…are there fewer ponies with us than there were before?” Fluttershy whimpered.
Trixie spared a glance around her.  Sure enough, the crowd had dwindled in size, yet she couldn’t remember actually seeing anypony leave.  Hearing Fluttershy’s concern, other members of the group noticed their shrinking numbers.
So of course they decided to scream and run in all directions, thereby dispersing themselves even more.  Trixie took a grip on Fluttershy so they wouldn’t be separated and dashed forward, trying to make it through the maze of buildings and into someplace more friendly.
She never saw the invisible wall of energy.  Of course not, it was invisible.  The point was, she didn’t see it, couldn’t avoid it, and hit it.  Being a wall of pure energy, and set up with a specific purpose in mind, the barrier had a pronounced effect on Trixie, jolting her system and releasing a targeted burst of magic that threw her into a comatose state faster than a blow to the head.
Or, to put it another way, she never knew what hit her.


Trixie awoke in a dark place with the feeling that a significant amount of time had passed.  There was a rumble of machinery from somewhere. 
Attempting to move, Trixie found herself bound by metal shackles around her neck and legs that held her in a fixed position on her back.  Around her were the iron bars of a cell.  Everything looked very sturdy.
Trying to use magic had no effect.  Trixie could feel something on her horn, apparently grounding any spells she tried.  She struggled against her bindings, but they didn’t budge.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
Trixie turned her head and eyes as far as she could, spotting Fluttershy in a cell next to hers.  The other mare looked frightened but otherwise unharmed.
Fluttershy came over and reached her hoof through the bars, just barely able to touch Trixie.  “I was so worried.  I didn’t know how long it would take you to wake up.”
“What happened?” Trixie asked.
“We were captured.”  Fluttershy looked around worriedly.  “I don’t know where we were taken or who these ponies are.  They seemed very interested in you.”
Trixie let out a frustrated sigh and looked at the ceiling, which appeared to be made of metal.  Now that she thought about it, the rumble she’d heard earlier sounded like steam engines.  Where they on a ship?
“Do you know why they were interested in me?” Trixie asked.
“No.”  Fluttershy thought.  “It might have something to do with your condition.”
“Gah.”  Trixie groaned and closed her eyes for a moment.  Why couldn’t she just be left alone?  Since Valiant had left, it had almost been a parade of things for her to deal with: Starburst, the Cult of Awesome, the alt-universe female version of Valiant, Twilight’s emotional issues regarding alicornhood, Sunset Shimmer, the crazy hateful scientist Berg, and now this.
While only about half of those situations had been caused by ponies directly interested in Trixie’s unique condition, that was still too many.  She let out another frustrated sigh.  Why her?  Why couldn’t they just leave her alone?
Spotting the emotion on Trixie’s face, Fluttershy said, “What’s wrong?  Do you want to talk about it?”
“I…yes.”  Trixie was not used to spilling her feelings, but if there was anypony who would listen, it was Fluttershy.  Trixie slowly talked through the events since Valiant had left.  It took a lot of explaining, but they had plenty of time.
Trixie was practically in tears by the end.  She held them back only for personal pride.  A crybaby was not who Valiant had raised his daughter to be.
Valiant… He had flaws, loads of them, but he cared about Trixie.  He was perhaps the only pony Trixie could count on unconditionally to be there for her.  At least, when he was there.  Trixie hadn’t seen him in…well, she didn’t know how long since he had gone to space.  Trixie couldn’t spare the emotion to count the days.
Everything would have been different if Valiant was here.  He would have protected Trixie.  One way or another, he would have seen to it that no harm would have come to her.  All the threats, all the psychos who had taken an interest in her because Trixie was different, they would have never laid a hoof on her.  Valiant didn't do things halfway.  If he was protecting Trixie, he would have resorted to everything up to and including murder to make sure she was okay.
A tear leaked out of Trixie’s eye.  She missed him.  And she couldn’t count on him this time.